Introduction
Norway Chess 2025 took place in Stavanger from May 26 to June 6, bringing together six super grandmasters for one of the year’s most anticipated events. The spotlight was on Magnus Carlsen, playing on home turf and defending his 2024 title, and the newly crowned 19-year-old World Champion, Gukesh, in their first classical encounter since his triumph. It was a true clash of generations—Carlsen, Nakamura, and Caruana representing the old guard, facing off against rising stars Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, and Wei Yi. The event featured a slightly unusual format: a 10-round double round-robin with a unique scoring system—3 points for a classical win, 0 for a loss, and 1.5–1 for the winner and loser of an Armageddon tiebreak if the classical game was drawn. In Armageddon, White had 10 minutes, Black had 7 and draw odds, meaning a draw counted as a win for Black.
From Dominance to Doubt
Magnus came out swinging in round one, crushing Gukesh in a game that ended with a full-board king hunt. He chased the world champion’s king across the board before delivering the final blow. As Colin McGourty put it, “Magnus Carlsen won a spectacular king hunt to beat World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju.” After the game, Magnus tweeted, “You come at the king, you best not miss,” and it looked like he was ready to run away with the tournament.
That lasted about three rounds.
By the tournament’s midpoint, the story had flipped. Arjun Erigaisi kept outplaying Gukesh in classical games, leaving the new World Champion stuck near the bottom of the standings. Fabiano Caruana, after an early stumble, caught fire and surged into the lead. Magnus, meanwhile, kept getting promising positions but couldn’t convert them—missing clear wins, dropping Armageddon games, and grinding through rounds with far more effort than usual. What originally looked like a smooth path to another title had suddenly turned into a wide-open race.
The Defining Moment.
Round 6 was when things really got interesting. Magnus was playing Gukesh again, and for almost the entire game, he was completely winning. But then time pressure kicked in. In a scramble, Magnus miscalculated and sacrificed his knight, believing his pawns were unstoppable. Gukesh, however, found a string of precise moves to halt the pawns—suddenly he was the one completely winning. Realizing his blunder and that the position was now hopeless, Magnus slammed the table in frustration. After the game Gukesh, very maturely said, “I’ve also banged a lot of tables in my career.” This clearly shows that he simply wanted to put this behind him and just talk about the chess being played.
The Rest Was Just Grinding
After the early fireworks, the tournament settled into a grind. Magnus stayed near the top, but the field refused to let him pull away. Every round felt like a mini-battle, especially as the Armageddon games started to take on more weight. That’s where Magnus’s experience showed—while others looked drained from the long classical games, he remained focused in the high-pressure tiebreaks.
Hikaru quietly accumulated points, rarely making headlines but always staying in striking distance. Caruana, rode a rollercoaster—brilliant one day, shaky the next. The young guns, especially Gukesh and Arjun, proved they belonged at this level. But none of them could put together a complete tournament.
Magnus Won But It Wasn't Easy
Magnus ended with 16 points out of 30, just beating Caruana by half a point. It was his seventh Norway Chess title, which sounds dominant—until you look closer. If this were a standard classical event, Magnus would have had a more comfortable margin. But Norway Chess uses a hybrid format, where drawn classical games lead to Armageddon tiebreaks. That made things tighter—and messier.
What’s striking is that Magnus won despite playing what might have been his most inconsistent tournament in years. He wasn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn’t the unstoppable force we’re used to either. He looked human—missing wins, making uncharacteristic errors, and even slamming the table in frustration after a blunder against Gukesh.
And yet, he still won. Because he’s still Magnus. Because when the tournament got chaotic, he stayed composed. Because even on an off week, his floor is higher than most players’ ceiling. But the margin is getting slimmer. Gukesh, Arjun, and even Wei Yi had moments where they looked ready to take over. They weren’t consistent enough this time, but it’s clear the next generation is coming—and fast. Gukesh’s first classical win over Magnus felt like more than just a point on the scoreboard—it felt like a shift. Arjun made his presence felt too, pushing the former champion to the limit. The younger generation didn’t dominate Norway Chess, but they made it clear: the balance of power is starting to shift. The future isn’t arriving. It’s already here.
Where does this leave us?
Magnus is still the best chess player in the world, but this tournament made it clear that the gap is smaller than it used to be. Gukesh isn't just a lucky World Champion. The young players are getting closer. The competition is tighter.
The viral table slam wasn't just a momentary loss of control. It was a sign that Magnus is feeling pressure he hasn't felt consistently in years. When the greatest player ever has to work this hard to win tournaments, that's probably good for chess as a sport.
Overall, this event was a big win for chess. Everyone left Stavanger talking about the games, the format, and of course, the now-iconic table slam. For a sport that often fights for mainstream attention, that kind of buzz is exactly what it needs.
The final crosstable from the 2025 Norway Chess tournament shows head-to-head results and total scores using a format where classical wins earned 3 points, and drawn games went to Armageddon (1.5 to the winner, 1 to the loser). Each box shows how many points the row player earned against the column player, with totals on the right showing final standings.